Knuckles for the headcanon thingy ^-^

1. doesnt use labels but omni if we wanna get specific. uses any pronouns too bc gender confuses him (remember, he grew up isolated from society so processing our binaries would be hard for him!)

2. Knuxouge/Knouge. Literally will DIE for them my babies my sweet sweet lovelies MWAH THEYRE MARRIED AS OF SONIC X PLEASE AND TY

3. hfkdkddk him and Mighty can be shippable for me too but I love their bromance? they can still kiss but I think Mighty took over on Angel Island and that's why Knux is never there anymore! Fuck the dimension "classic world" shit they're bros who kiss sometimes

4. The penders oc. fuck her. weren't they cousins?!? NAHHH FUCK YOU J**** S*

5. He's not stupid now, he's just not constantly aggravated or stressed around people since he can trust his friends, meaning he doesn't have to rely on just himself anymore (or prove he's smart). Knuckles isn't an idiot!!! Not even in boom! He was always gullible and socially awkward, but please remember his past: it fucked him up. By relaxing and trusting, he sorta lost the spark that made him appear super intelligent, but he was always good at things like translation or lore reciting etc (which hasnt changed! it's just not plot central like in Riders or Adventure games). He was NEVER textbook smart or socially smart like Tails or Sonic, so the "new writing" hasn't really damned him. this got long sorry but TLDR KNUCKLES ISNT THAT DIFFERENT THESE DAYS HE'S JUST HEALTHIER

6. aha, socially isolated with a traditional/familial burden 😅 yay!!! but seriously, the social awkwardness coming off as aggression. i made my first friend at 17 and it went horribly, and knuckles basically did the same thing. i also seem 99% dumber than i did before i made friends because i relaxed and trusted people! whoops, are all my headcanons projecting wait hold o—

7. his misogynistic tendencies in Sonic X... look he turned out a feminist but there have been some unkind moments of his that made me :/ BUT I LOVE KNUCKLES ITS OK

8. problematic fave. the fandom makes him pretty cute but that guy is darker than people give him credit for!

the sleuth of the ming dynasty: first thoughts

(mildest spoilers up to episode 6 / this got super long, who would’ve thought)

so far the story is very engaging: my excitement skyrocketed as soon as the first 10 people got introduced in episode 1 with name cards and titles and all. ahhhhhhhh, finally some good overload of my brain. what’s a good crdrama without you having to figure out who is who for 5 episodes straight.

what’s obvious very quickly is that this screams jacky chan. i knew he’s the director in advance but i think i could have come to that conclusion just by watching the series. to some degree it elevates the story by having this modern detective vibe, allowing more quick and exiting fighting scenes and giving leeway for characters to behave more freely in terms of etiquette and posture (the way Fu Meng Bo as Sui Zhou moves being the most obvious example).

on the other hand i am still struggling with the editing, the transition between the scenes being my biggest grief. so far there’s no natural flow to the shots, often scenes get tacked onto each other so that it makes sense storywise but doesn’t lend it self to good pacing (pretty much everything gets played out in full and there’s never just narration to create a picture). the style is a staccato of scenes which then weirdly get slowed down for what are supposed to be emotional highlights, which so far only focused on side characters so the weight that is lent to them is questionable e.g. the couple dying side by side: they were an important part of solving the case but i had really no emotional connection to them whatsover and didn’t really need the series to slow down that much as they also didn’t offer much character development to the main characters besides Tang Fan’s merciful heart and practical approach to things.

Speaking of Tang Fan and Suizhou: I really enjoy them! They are both layered and fun to watch and the actors really play well off each other. But tbh the series enters a bit of queer baiting territory for me. So far its very strongly hinted that there will be female love interests involved in the story so all the romantically coded moments didn’t feel very honest to me and just like fan service. If they already decided to go bromance I’d love them to do just that and not try and make it seem more than it is if the story directly negates any feelings they might have for each other in the novel.

It also lends itself to comedy but I find it hard to believe that men of their positions would be sooooo oblivious to how difficult and dangerous interactions with the court are.  There’s a tiny disbalance between how all other characters act faced with authority and they do, while there’s no narrative reason for it and just adds some comedy.

In regards to other characters: The empress dowager and consort wan are very delicious female characters. they are seasoned, intelligent and have their own goals to achieve. so far it is still up in the open if either one of them is an antagonist or simply playing the court games as everyone else. wang zhi is fabulously complicated and i was very happy that he doesn’t work in opposition with our main characters but walks between all sides to achieve his goals. really enjoy the complexity of him, however i don’t include him in the ship since it is established that he can be cruel beyond reason so that’s a no from me. i am also always happy to have a eunuch as a main character because there are just so much more interesting power struggles at play. 

pei huai is my secret favourite at the moment: chaotically competent with a flair for the dramatic is someone right up my ally. as for other female characters: i am sorry to say that i am super underwhelmed. i hope aha isn’t going to appear any more because her character is just pure nonsense. we got told the whole backstory of the prostitute (i am sorry, i forgot her name - first 5 episodes rule) but while it explained the reason for her actions it didn’t give me the emotional depth that was needed. i was very much annoyed at her and surprised at the lack of competence for someone who had worked as a prostitute which requires very high social skills and was the daughter of a merchant, so had to have enjoyed some sort of education. it just felt very underdeveloped and she came and went as was needed for the story - which would be fine, but then there’s no need for a tragic slo-mo death with violins playing in the background.

speaking of violins: it is a tragedy that a series with as much money doesn’t use real recordings - i know that that’s my petpeeve but please: nothing is less emotional than an artificially produced violin sound.

now: the brilliant exception is dong’er. i love her A LOT. she is intelligent and brave and has a good amount of comedic timing and wit. her character seems to be well-rounded and well crafted. i am enjoying her very much and am super happy that she’s now the baby of the dyfunctional sui zhou/tang fan household that holds all the brain cells.

overall the cases are super fun, i like the degree of intricacy that leaves room to mystery and character development and i am always a sucker for a show that features a whole working city and also food shots. the whole city comes across as very organic and lends itself as a fantastic playground for a detective series.

i was surprised by the found family trope coming into play, but it is one of my favourites so I am absolutely here for it.

sadly the colour scheme is very dark and brownish so this series will be the worst to gif.

The english title is also all kinds of fantastically absurd and i always misread it as “the sloth of ming dynasty” which i think gives the accurate picture of a fully fed tang fan and dong’er laying lazily around while suizhou exasperatedly stands over them in an apron.

a thank you to @stebeee and @florbexter for getting me into this series, i will definitely watch on

grateful

person 1. thanks for keeping me up to date on uni work and also just life in general. i honestly dont know how i would even be in third year without you aha like late night desperate calls to send me answers and help me out on assignments and driving me out and getting me food when i didn’t have anything at home to eat :P it’s sad that our favourite sushi train in market city is CLOSING DOWN but hey, glad we got to eat there few days before it did and it would always be our go-to-uni-eatsss but dw, many places to get sushi in the city so we will always find our next go to :P ps sorry for not posting a birthday message to you and i know you’re still waiting on it, promise its on its way hehe. 

2. where the fuck have you been aha gone for what, 5 years of my life and then i hear from you just yesterday, did not know how to feel when you hit me up with a ‘hey dude, fucking missed you come hang with me im in syd’ like man, missed you so fucking much, can’t remember the last time I hung out with you and we actually just got high and talked about our lives and what has changed, we literally caught up every detail in our lives. i would spend so many more nights just chilling with you dawg but you had to go back overseas. congrats on getting into uni bro, back in the day you wanted to fuck around and be a nobody but youve grown so much since the last time i saw you and one day we’re both gunna dominate this earth bro, we’re brothers from another mother and I want you to know that there hasn’t been a day that our bromance has dwindled. i know im seeing you again at mafia so get your hak on we’re going to get lit as fuck. 

person 3. HAHA fuck i dont know why im writing this but tbh you’re the next person on my mind so what the fuck haha. anyway, this post has become more of a blast from the past seeing as i’m dedicating this to old friends i havent seen in fucking years and yes you are one of them. not sure how you knew where i worked but when matt said you were the reception area i was liek what really, i even had to double check if it was the right person he was talking about aha. HOW HAVE YOU BEEN THOUGH. we only had 1 hour to catch up on but in that hour i felt like we talked nonstop and it took me back to the days when we used to be young and reckless. i spent so much of my teen years doing shit with you and those memories will go on. you are still the same little nigga that I once knew, still doing the same shit maybe a bit more mature but you’re the type of person i can never get bored with. thanks for being so random and hitting me up at work during my work break but honestly, you are a breath of fresh air, HIT ME UP AT MAFIA GIRL everyone should hit me up at mafia im selling lollies, jokes. there for the hardstyle. 

person 4. PALABRA you know you you are :P fucking love you mate, to more of those nights. 

person 5. haha i adore you. come around to my office more and for godsake wake up on time for uni so we can catch the same train together. even when i drive you to uni you still wake up late. stop being cute and be on time instead.